Six weeks from first wrap to graduation night, and it all stands on the feet you build tonight.
Week 1 — Stance & Guard
- Boxing
- Course week 1 · Beginner
- 60 min
- Beginner course intake of 8–20
- 1 coach
- Effort 2/5
- Boxing gym floor
- beginners
- course
- stance
- guard
- fundamentals
Kit: Wraps for everyone (teach wrapping tonight), a spare bag of club wraps for forgetters, 4 focus pads for demos only, cones or spot markers, timer or bell. Gloves not needed until week 2.
Wraps, Names, Wake-Up
Setup: Meet them at the door, not across the room — week 1 nerves are real. Circle up, first names round, then teach hand wrapping slowly: thumb loop, three times round the wrist, cross the knuckles, anchor the thumb, finish at the wrist.
How it works: Once wrapped, wake the body without a single lap: follow-the-leader walking in a loose swarm — you lead, they copy. Walk tall, walk on the balls of the feet, sink low, side-step, quick feet on the spot on your clap. Add joint prep on the move: arm circles, hip circles, ankle rolls. Two minutes of light bounce to finish, everyone finding their own rhythm.
Rounds: 2 × 3 min moving, 1 min wrapping checks between
What to say
- “Wraps snug, never tight — wiggle your fingers; if they tingle, rewrap.”
- “Balls of the feet from minute one — boxers borrow the floor, they never settle on it.”
- “Nobody here is being tested tonight — copy me and you cannot get it wrong.”
Easier
Walk everything; skip the quick-feet bursts.
Harder
Quick-feet bursts stretch to ten seconds; add a low duck-walk length.
Technical — Build the Stance
Setup: One spot marker per boxer, spread in a loose grid so everyone can see you at the front. Demo the whole stance once at speed, then build it with them piece by piece from the floor up.
How it works: Build it together on your count, checking the room at every step. Then test it gently: bounce and freeze on the bell, sit lower without moving the feet, ten seconds eyes closed. Walk the grid the whole time fixing feet with your own feet — stand beside them, not over them. Finish with the week-1 promise: this shape is home, and every single thing in the next six weeks starts and ends here.
The technique, step by step
- Feet together, then step the rear foot back and slightly out — shoulder-width, toes both angled a little toward your power side.
- Bend the knees until you feel springs, not stilts.
- Weight rolls to the balls of both feet — rear heel just off the floor.
- Hands float up: lead hand at eyebrow height a forearm from your face, rear hand glued to the cheekbone.
- Elbows in tight to the ribs, chin tucked, eyes forward.
Key details
- The stance is narrow enough to move and wide enough to balance — a doorway, not a corridor.
- Everything relaxes except the shape — tension is the beginner's tax and we refund it tonight.
Common mistakes
- Standing square to the front like a press-up — turn side-on so the target you offer is half the size.
- Locked knees and flat feet — the stance looks fine and moves like furniture.
What to say
- “Feet shoulder-width, lead toe and rear heel on one line — like standing on a clock face at ten past twelve.”
- “Knees soft, weight on the balls of the feet — heels kiss the floor, never marry it.”
- “Chin down, eyes up — look at me through your eyebrows.”
- “If someone nudged you right now, would you stumble? Fix your feet until the answer is no.”
Easier
Skip eyes-closed; hold each build step longer with feet checked individually.
Harder
Hold the low stance twenty seconds; freeze-checks come with eyes closed.
Guard On, Feet Moving
Setup: Same grid. Teach the one law of boxing feet before anything moves: the foot nearest where you are going moves first, the other drags after, and the feet never cross or click together.
How it works: You are the compass at the front: point forward, back, left, right, and the room step-drags one step that way and rebuilds stance, guard never dropping. Start loud and slow, checking the correct foot leads each direction. Then quieter and quicker: silent rounds reading only your hand, double-step calls, and the odd FAKE where anyone who bites does five bounces and grins. The guard is the test all the way through — moving feet with falling hands is the first habit we refuse to let them build.
Rounds: 4 × 90s, 30s rest · calls go silent as they improve
What to say
- “Nearest foot first, other one drags — say it in your head until it says itself.”
- “Hands stay at eyebrow and cheekbone while you move — the guard is glued on, not held up.”
- “Small steps, lots of them — big steps are cheques your balance cannot cash.”
- “Same height the whole time — a stance that bobs arrives late.”
Easier
Voice calls only, walking tempo, no fakes.
Harder
Diagonal calls join in; three-step chains must finish on the bell in perfect stance.
Partner Balance Tests
Setup: Pairs of similar size, facing each other at arm's length. No punches tonight and say so plainly — this is the only contact of week 1 and it is a steady hand on a shoulder.
How it works: Partner A stands in stance, B places an open hand on A's lead shoulder and presses slowly and steadily — a good stance wobbles and holds, a bad one steps, and both results teach. Press from the front, then the side, then the back shoulder. Swap. Round two is the gap game: A leads moving anywhere on their compass steps, B mirrors to keep the exact arm's-length gap, ninety seconds, swap. Feet, balance, distance — boxing with the punches removed.
Common mistakes
- Bracing hard against the press with locked legs — the stance should absorb like a spring, not resist like a wall.
- Chasing the leader with crossed feet in the gap game — the step-drag rule still runs the drill.
Rounds: Press tests 2 × 90s each, then gap game 2 × 90s each
What to say
- “Press, never shove — we are testing a stance, not winning a prize.”
- “When the press comes, sink an inch — low beats braced every time.”
- “In the gap game watch the chest, not the eyes — chests cannot lie about direction.”
Easier
Shoulder press from the front only; gap game at walking pace.
Harder
Press tests with eyes closed; gap game adds fakes with shoulders and eyes.
Stance Stamina
Setup: Back to personal markers, room in one loose grid. The first taste of a boxing engine — short, honest, and everyone finishes it.
How it works: Three rounds of one minute: twenty seconds light bounce in stance, twenty seconds sitting low in the stance and holding it, twenty seconds quick feet on the spot with the guard up. Thirty seconds rest between rounds, shaking the legs out. Legs will burn a little and that is the point worth naming — the stance is a muscle and this is its first workout.
Rounds: 3 × 1 min, 30s rest
What to say
- “Guard stays up even when the legs complain — tired hands drop first, so we train them last to drop.”
- “Breathe out through the quick feet — feet chatter, breath steady.”
- “Low means knees bent, not back bent — chest tall, hips down.”
Easier
Two rounds; the low hold becomes a normal-height stance hold.
Harder
Four rounds; low holds stretch to thirty seconds.
Stretch, Question, Homework
Setup: Loose circle, wraps loosened while you talk.
How it works: Slow the breathing with one quarter-speed minute of compass steps, then stretch: calves against the wall, quads standing, shoulders across the chest, neck slow to each side — twenty seconds each. Set the homework: two minutes of stance and step-drag at home, every day, in front of any mirror.
What to say
- “Breathe in through the nose for four, out for six — the heart rate follows the breath down.”
- “Roll the wraps as you take them off and they will be right for next week.”
- “Stretch to a pull, never to a pain — twenty easy seconds beats ten heroic ones.”
Ask the class: Ask the room: where is your weight when you feel most ready to move? Take three answers — they will all say the balls of the feet, and they will have taught themselves the week.
Next week builds on this: Week 2 puts the first punches on tonight's platform — the jab and the cross. The feet you built tonight are the entry fee, so do the mirror homework.
MatPlans curriculum team
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